


Across the Battlefield

by Dimdive



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Blood and Violence, But only implied, Canon-Typical Violence, Cybertronian Civil War, Implied Starscream x Skyfire, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Loss, Mention of Skyfire, Oneshot, Romantic Friendship, War, he was defonitely in love once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:55:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28922469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dimdive/pseuds/Dimdive
Summary: Starscream saw something in the smoke of the battlefield. Someone.
Relationships: Starscream&Skyfire
Kudos: 11





	Across the Battlefield

The ash and the smoke settled in his ventilation, taking his sight. In the long run he would overheat, but he had no intention of staying there longer than necessary.

He had seen something in the smoke, and he had to find it.

With heavy steps he dragged himself forward while rockets whistled through the sky high above his helmet and ripped their targets out of the air. Metal shards and Energon splattered down on him as someone crashed not far away. His former inner life spread across the ground like disgusting rain. Starscream watched as the mech twisted, rattled, as his optics flared upbecause the shot had not completely killed him. 

The Seeker clenched his servos into fists and sharp claws dug into soft metal. The smell of burnt plastic, Energon and nitrogen was all-encompassing and seemed like a sticky mist on all surfaces. You couldn't see far because the dense smoke of the burning buildings was like a wall. Only the smudged light of projectiles and engines illuminated the brittle, fresh fragments of the ruins. It seemed as if they were peeling themselves out of the surface of Cybertron and stretching out to the darkened sky, a last desperate attempt to escape the wild rage of war. 

Starscream ducked into the protection of a protruding wall panel as an enemy battleship howled over his helmet. His wings trembled uneasily, for the terror had still not left his limbs. Normally, he would never have been hit. He was _Starscream_ , after all. No one could compete with him up in the sky. But there he had seen something. In the murky lights of the burning towers of Uraya, he had seen something in the smoke, no, someone. He had seen _him_.

The Seeker briefly growled and let his crimson-red optics roam the rugged plane again. He knew it couldn't be true. Skyfire was very, very far away from Cybertron and long dead. And yet... He had to look. That, at least, he owed the shuttle.

And so he walked aimlessly across the battlefield while bombs were exploding around him.

At some point, he completely lost his orientation. The ashes stuck in his optics and took away his view, it felt like he was running in circles. Everything hurt.

With a grim expression he continued to fight his way forward, past more and more corpses. Some had ripped chest plates, smashed helmets, ripped cables. Others had simply been slain by falling remains building. Starscream had almost reached the core of the fallen city when he realized what he was doing.

_In the midst of a battle, I'm looking for a long dead mech whose face plates I thought to recognize in a cloud of smoke._

He wanted to rationalize it, to find a reason for it, but there was none. The pain raged inside of him like a flame licking greedily at his spark, just like it had back then. As if someone had broken up a wound that had just healed. 

Primus. He had to pull himself together and finally focus on the important things! Survival, for example. Get out here.

The Seeker started his engines and shot up into the sky through the thick blanket of smoke. Lightning still blasted through the dusty grey, occasionally attacking formations briefly appeared out of the fog only to disappear into it again. There were still towers left and protruding high, the connecting platforms in between had long been torn down. Everything was shrouded in thick layers of flames. The fire devoured the city, leaving only charred devastation. 

Starscream hovered over all that, high up, where the silence screamed louder than any explosion. It hardly reminded him of the oppressive absence of sound of the universe. Nevertheless, he could feel the presence of his former partner, his friend, as if they were flying side by side again. 

And in a moment of blissful drunkenness, he realized that the shuttle probably wouldn't have endured what had happened to Cybertron. _Maybe it's even better this way._


End file.
